Antique Labs Hurricane DT

HI!

Is you amps the originals? I also had the original Hurricanes and had the same problems with them. I finally decided on two pair of McIntosh 275's instead. I would suggest that if you love the 'canes (and they are quite good) you upgrade them to the newer version that apparently solved this problem.

Good luck

Rick (RWD)

>>I have a pair of Hurricane DT amps, they keep blowing periodically the inside fuse which is under the bottom plate.<<

If that's the case, they are performing normally.

Thank you for this info. I appreciated it.
Ted

Consider a mod with Scott Frankland, San Jose, CA, to deal with your Hurricane-fuse problem. It appears the original editions were prone to blowing fuses and/or resisters (a design problem) and bad parts (a quality control problem). ASL fixed the latter over time but the former kept occuring enough regularly that many 'Cane owners gave up and moved onto less troublesome amps. In fact mine are second hand and now four years in my system. I LOVE my Hurricanes and they are designated heirlooms for my youngest son. However, Scott Frankland, a well known Bay Area audio engineer-designer, suggested replacing all my resisters, installing a new fuse set, replace some diodes, and upgrade the two rotary switches for the tube adjustments. Otherwise, he told me to expect to blow a resister about every 7-13 months. The prospects of lugging these 70 pound beasts back and forth between San Jose and San Francisco once a year was not appetitizing so I had Scott do the modifications 3 years ago and there hasn't been nary a problem since. I think I'll have to do a post "How Many Hurricane Owners Left?" as I see many long time 'Cane owners move on. Me? I love my system of: Hurricanes, ARC LS 26 tube preamp, PS Audio phono stage (modded), VPI Scoutmaster, Grado Reference cartridge, PS Audio Premier Power Regenerator, Aerial 6 floor speakers, and Cardas Golden Cross interconnects, and plan to keep them together for a loong time. I hope you can enjoy your 'Canes long enough to build a satisfying system around it as I have. Enjoy the music.

Thank you Jwong for the thoughtful suggestions. Unfortunately I live in the greater N.York area and shipping these amps to the West coast for mods is a task I am not looking forward to. Also unfortunate is the fact that N.York has so few tech men to do the work unless one wants to spend a fortune, I believe and been warned that they charge the most expensive prices in the country.
Anyway,I contacted the Canadian importer of the amps and he suggested to try Slow Blow fuses instead of Fast Blow that I have been using from the beginning. I also changed all output KT-88 tubes. After these changes the amps work like a dream, I had forgotten what improvement new tubes can do to the sound, even if they are the same low quality kind as the ones these amps came with. A big problem that I believe contibutes to the failing of the low quality resistors, tube sockets and most other parts is HEAT!, these amps generate so much of it I can keep my living room warm in the winter. I have placed 2 small fans infront of each monoblock and even though they are somewhat audible in very low volume music they do an excellent job keeping the amps cool. A friend of mine who bought the same amps but had them placed under a cabinet had all kinds of tube and other part failures that made him get rid of the 'Canes in disgust before he realized that his problem had mainly been their placement which generated excess amounts of part wearing heat.
I use the excellent "Rhea" tubed phono stage which I'll keep for ever, and the same cartridge as you do, but I also have a second tonearm on my custom made TT with a low output Grado Master, for a change to a more subtle and detailed sound.
I hope this is the beginning of a long period without the problems I had in the past.
Thanks again.
Ted